I’m too cheap/stupid to pay for a solution that doesn’t need any tweaking and I certainly can’t afford to pay someone for customizations at this point.

As open source software, I assume I’ll be making significant changes if I’m impatient. I think there is acknowledgement that some of these “features” should be in core at some point and they are asking the community to input on their priorities. In the meantime, I’ll make my hackish solution to user, group types and many other things.

I’m willing along with others here to post what we’ve done with NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES.

If that’s not acceptable, there are other community softwares available at different pricepoints.

Learning enough php to make what you want should be backbreaking if you know javascript or other client-side stuff. I taught myself Flash when everyone thought that was the wave of the future. That was way more painful than php.

@Bowe: The Lynda tutorials are fantastic. So much better than a book because you can watch and code at the same time (just pause the video). And the concepts are explained AS you see the code being typed in the video. So much better than a book. Of course… one tutorial won’t turn you into a programmer. You have to actually do it and practice it to get any good at it. Like anything. But it’s a great start and at least you will be able to look at existing code and understand (or at least get the gist of) what is going on.

@Peter: Yes… BuddyPress is quite new. Comparing it to WordPress isn’t really fair since WordPress has been around for 7 years. BuddyPress hasn’t even turned 1 yet. The first public release was last spring.

I s’pose you’re talking about the 20 minutes I said it took me to code the bits with the registration in my earlier comment? Why’s that worrisome? It just shows how fast you can get results with BP. Would you rather work with a piece of software where you’d need three times as long for something as simple as what I did? Then, may I suggest Joomla?

You keep saying you’re not interested in programming and don’t really know it. That basically means you talk an aweful lot about things you really don’t know that much about…

Why’s that worrisome? It just shows how fast you can get results with BP.

Only when you are a PHP programmer. If you are not, you waste weeks figuring out little things like storing firstname/lastname, fixing Ajax buttons that are intricately connected with CSS elements and fixing plugins that break between versions of WPMU.

The worrisome thing is when BP developers assume the end users are all PHP programmers. Or if they are not, that they should learn PHP.

WordPress was originally intended for content creators who know some html/css, but don’t have to know “programming”. I’d hate to see Buddypress abandon that goal.

That basically means you talk an aweful lot about things you really don’t know that much about…

I don’t and make that very clear, but I still need to figure out ways to get these little things to work or they would derail my project. And I can’t afford to hire anyone to do it for me.

I know general structural things; I don’t know programming from scratch. In particular working with arrays etc. is pure hocus pocus to me.

@Peter: WordPress is the same. If you want to do something that it doesn’t do by default you have to dig into the Codex and forums and figure out a little bit of PHP. The only changes you can make with “some html/css” are visual changes. No matter what the software is. If you take a look through the WordPress.org forums you will find thousands of posts with people discussing code, php, template tags, action hooks, custom queries, arrays. And WordPress plugins break after updates too. All the time.

Sorry… what was the original question again? Oh yah… different user types. I guess that has already been answered above… as best as it can be. Topic has been marked as “resolved” too.

My original comment was more in response to psyber than to DevWeb’s original question from 10 months ago. I just thought that “you can code it in 20 minutes” didn’t really answer the “this is a huge hurdle for me to overcome” point.

Didn’t want to resurrect this thread, but both of you indicated you had coded a solution and I’d figured I’d ask for you to share. Also, I’d like to understand what considerations to think about when determining to do this with usermeta vs. xprofile fields.

You once mentioned having a proprietary solution for user lists using xprofile fields.

In redesigning my organization’s website I need to 1. display certain users (organization members in various departments) in a directory and 2. limit certain kinds of content creation to these lists (group creation only for organization members). We still want the site open to the public and use it to recruit new staff so I can’t just close down registration. Also, I can’t use wp roles because write permissions don’t line up with our organizational groupings (eg, some organization directors will be contributors while others are editors).

I’d be interested to know what you’ve come up with and would be willing to purchase it if it meets our needs and fits our budget.

I know that this maty be a little of the original topic, but I really really just wanted to say that I notice that when a great piece of software does not do whata someone wants it to do the developers get the blame. I want to know where I can get a copy of the software that does “Everything” and I mean “EVERYTHING”.

Instead of whining about what a piece of software doesn’t do, help the delvelopers by getting into the code and finding a solution. If this means learning a little Phpm then so be it. If you are not prepared to do that then there is only one thing you can do:

Make The Suggestion/Request and then BE PATIENT!

I had not even heard of Php two years ago, but by my own “take it apart and put it back together” method, I could quite comfortably say that I can usually find a solution. So to those who “Cant be bothered” learning Php, but want to build websites……Ummm Wake Up!